With a Little Help From My Friends
by Dude13
Summary: Can a pack of a young redheaded kindergartener's schoolmates pick on her mercilessly and get away with it? Not if a certain lanky imaginary friend has a say in it.  [Oneshot]


Over the past few days I've been trying to revise a bunch of the chapters in "Falling Apart", part of the "More Than My Friend" multi-fic. It's mainly grammar and spelling errors I've been fixing, but I tweaked chapter three of "Falling Apart" so I'm not in blatant violation of "Good Wilt Hunting Anymore" (but I can't be blamed for doing it purposely; my story was finished about a year before the special.)

Anyway, here's a story idea I've had for a little bit, but unfortunately the site was giving me problems for the past few days (and still is - it's currently only letting me upload documents on certain internet browsers.)

All feedback is appreciated!

* * *

"…Oh, _no_." 

The curiously gangly imaginary friend murmured in dismay the moment he realized what terrible things were afoot.

No sooner had the familiar redbrick elementary school come into view up ahead, immediately he spotted a small blur shoot off down the sidewalk towards him in a straight beeline. Instinctively he increased the lanky gait he had been previously traveling at into a swift jog, and rushed to intercept the child scampering towards him.

Although he couldn't see the tears in her eyes at first, from a distance he could easily hear the girl's ragged sobs. The six-year-old redhead cried unashamedly as she fled away from the school as fast as her legs could carry her, and as soon as he got close enough Wilt dropped down upon his knees and swept the child into a tight hug.

"W-Wilt…" Frances "Frankie" Foster moaned between her tears as she immediately buried her head under the crook of his neck. "I-I was just w-w-waiting for you, a-a-and…a-and…they…they w-were…th-they…"

"Shhhhhh…." Wilt hushed the near hysterical child as he held her close. "It's okay….it's okay…I know, I know…"

His words weren't merely a random sputtered reassurance; he in fact did know exactly, and _far_ too much for his own personal liking. Wilt grimaced unhappily as he mulled over the unpleasant truth.

Why was it that little children could be both extraordinarily precious, yet also so unbelievably cruel it made one sick to their stomach? He had no idea, and he wished dearly he didn't have to deal with such an age-old dilemma to begin with.

Alas, that did nothing to change the unfortunate fact that a few days ago a group of first-grade girls had found out about Frankie's permanent residence; her grandmother's foster home. While she was usually proud of her unique heritage, the others found it to be nothing but a tremendous source of cruel amusement. Since then, they had yet to waste an opportunity to remind the poor little creature about her most unusual background.

There were probably few things that pained him more than to try and understand how those first-graders got such kicks out of tormenting a kindergartener, or took such joy over the fact that she lived in a home for imaginary friends, when a few of them no doubt had imaginary creations of their own.

"It's n-not fair…i-it's not f-f-fair…" Frankie whimpered as the warms tears cascaded freely down her cheeks and drenched his shoulder. "I n-never d-did anything t-to them, but…b-but they…they won't….i-it's not fair…I t-tell them to s-stop, but…"

Wilt's heart nearly broke for the miserable child as he gently lifted her up off the ground and cradled her delicately before turning in the direction of home. He berated himself harshly for thinking before that the others would simply tire of their new joke rather quickly after a day or two, as children were apt to do. How could he be so naïve to think they would only tease her once or twice and be done? Worse, how long would this continue until the older children found a new target?

He was tired of watching her mope about the house like a trauma victim, but what options did he have? She was far too embarrassed to inform her grandmother; he had personally witnessed the old woman attempt to pry out of her grandchild what was wrong to absolutely no avail. Telling a teacher wouldn't help, for he knew tattlers were looked down upon as the prison snitches of the education system. And although he knew quite well Frankie was unusually tough for age, what could she do with that? Physically fight back in an attempt to make the taunting stop? She was so much smarter than that; being labeled a troublemaker was no better than being branded a tattletale.

What could be done? The unnecessary cruelty hadn't even been going on for a week, but he couldn't stand staying on the sidelines as a passive spectator. But what could he do?

While racking his brain for an answer, Wilt whispered softly to the weepy child as he sauntered down the sidewalk.

"Shhhh, it's okay, Frankie…it's okay, we'll fix this…" he murmured dutifully. "Shhh, it's okay….how about we go tell Madame Fos-"

"No!" she yelped in protest as her eyes went wide with terror. "Don't tell Grandma! D-don't tell Grandma!"

"Frankie, those girls keep-" he attempted to sway her.

"P-please!" the child begged unashamedly as she shook her head furiously. "D-don't tell! Grandma wouldn't like to hear that th-they say the h-house is…I-I don't w-wanna be…I-I…"

Too distraught to get her jumbled thoughts in order, Frankie rested her head against his shoulder with a soft whimper. Rather than persist, Wilt just wordlessly continued on back to Foster's as he mulled deeply over the predicament at hand.

Well, so much for a hasty plan A.

* * *

"…So, what do you have today? Anything interesting?" 

"A-art class…." Frankie murmured absentmindedly as the lanky imaginary friend led her down the sidewalk by the hand. Even though the downtrodden kindergartener kept her gaze fixated on the ground, Wilt nevertheless put on a toothy grin and kept up the light banter in an attempt to raise her somber mood somewhat.

"Ooooh, that's sounds fun! You gonna make something nice for your grandma again? Hmmm?"

The morose little girl didn't even give him so much as a quick glance as she shrugged lamely and plodded on in self-imposed silence. Despite this, her companion didn't seem to be affected by her depression for one second. In fact, he actually seemed to be in an unusually chipper mood that early morning as he hummed snatches of odd tunes and waved merrily at passerby pedestrians.

However, Frankie was in no mood to notice this. After all, he was usually pretty cheery to begin with, so what difference did it matter to her? The child just sighed softly to herself as Wilt affectionately tousled her flaming scarlet hair.

"Yeah, you're gonna make something awesome today, I know it." He murmured encouragingly as they finally arrived in front of the school.

As soon as they came to a halt, Frankie warily gazed about and almost immediately spotted an all-too-familiar herd of four or five first-grade girls playing near the front steps of the school building. Although they looked as harmless as could be to most people, to the six-year-old they resembled a pack of vultures in wait, and the little one couldn't help but tighten her squeeze upon Wilt's hand with a whimper of fright.

One of her tormentors noticed this out of the corner of her eye, and swiftly managed to get all her companions to take a look for themselves. After they passed her a few glances, the pack broke out into peals of cackled giggles at the sight and quickly began gossiping excitedly to one another between their sniggers.

Despite what was clearly about to happen the second he left, never once did Wilt cease beaming like a complete nitwit, and he actually passed the other girls a friendly wave before he gently tugged his hand from Frankie's iron grip. Although she attempted to resist at first, the child quickly decided it was hopeless and gave up the futile struggle with a pitiful whimper.

"Wait right here after school's over at three, okay?" the gangly creature reminded her kindly as he got down upon one knee.

"I know…I-I know…" the little one muttered with an automatic nod.

"And remember, no picking on any of the other kids, okay? Play nicely." Wilt continued in the same gentle manner, although the apprehensive Frankie had failed to notice completely that at this point he had raised the volume of his voice considerably.

"I know…" she murmured instinctively as she gazed towards the ground. Meanwhile, as soon as he saw that he had nabbed the attention of the gang near the stairs, Wilt's grin widened by a good few inches as he raised his voice yet again and boomed to the child,

"Because you _know_ what you grandmother says about little girls who can't be nice to others, right?" he was nearly shouting at this point.

"Huh?" Frankie grunted as she shot him a bewildered gaze. "Wilt, what-"

"That's right!" he thundered with a grin and a few over-exaggerated comical gestures. "They get devoured by the great big ferocious hairy Snorklepogo!"

For a few confusing moments, the front schoolyard was so quiet one could hear a pin drop. As the veritable wolf pack of first-graders finally broke out into high-pitched peals of laughter, Frankie just gawked with mouth agape at the imaginary friend in mortified disbelief and pained bewilderment.

"…W-what?" she squeaked hoarsely as her cheeks became flushed with scarlet. Still smiling almost moronically, Wilt only chuckled as he gave her an affectionate pat on the head and a sly wink, sending her raging confusion skyrocketing.

"See you this afternoon, okay? Have fun today!"

Before Frankie could get in another word, he clambered back to his feet and strolled off back in the direction of home, leaving a very stunned and extraordinarily confused child all alone and burning with embarrassment over her friend's perplexing warning.

As Frankie desperately wished there was a dark hold nearby she could crawl into and hide, the pack of girls immediately seized upon their opportunity the very moment Wilt had vanished over the horizon.

"Ooooh, look who's back from her grandma's freak show so soon!" a seven-year-old brunette hooted.

"Heeheehee!" a twiggy blonde sniggered. "Hey Frankie, why don't you take the bus? Driver won't let you take your crazy beanpole with you?"

As their raucous laughter stung to the very core of her heart, Frankie sighed miserably as she begrudgingly trudged up towards the school entrance.

It looked like it was going to be a _very_ long day.

* * *

"C'mon….c'mon…" 

The little redhead whispered anxiously as she frantically gazed about in hope of spotting a familiar towering imaginary friend. Alas, she had no luck and continued to squirm about impatiently upon the sidewalk.

Although it was only five minutes after three o'clock, time seemed to drag on at an agonizingly slow pace for the six-year-old, or at least while a few of her schoolmates played yet another round of their favorite game.

"Hey! Hey, Frankie! Where do you live in your weird fun-house?" she could here the snide comment ring out from behind. "Is your room the hall of mirrors?"

Frankie nervously shuffled about from foot to foot as she desperately tried to ignore it, but already the cruel taunts and jeers were causing their usual hefty damage to her self-esteem.

"No, no, it's not a fun house!" another girl cried as the veritable wolf pack partially surrounded her from behind in a semi-circle. "She lives in the freak-show, remember? She has to share her room with beanpole, the fat man and the dog-faced boy!"

At this they all dissolved into a round of fiendish snickering, with each giggle tearing into their target like a red-hot knife through butter.

"Yeah! Yeah!" a slightly husky girl sporting a unicorn backpack whooped excitedly. "And when she goes to bed, she has to sleep in the bearded lady's mustache!"

"Yeeheeheeheehee!" the twiggy blonde first grader sniggered wildly with delight at the thought. "Hey Frankie, do you get real itchy at night?"

"Nah, that's because she…she…."

Just like that, they all went dead silent in perfect unison the moment they realized someone seemed to have stolen the sun out of the sky.

Horrifically confused, the little band immediately shot each other a few bemused glances as they struggled to make sense of this most peculiar phenomenon. It didn't take them too long for them to understand the fact that they were suddenly bathed in shade not because the sun had disappeared, but because _something_ was casting an enormous shadow upon them all.

For a few moments, a dead quiet descended upon them all as they all slowly fixated their gazes upon the hulking visitor who had arrived unannounced right in the midst of their amusement. Within a split-second, every one of the tiny gang either went bug-eyed, utterly slack-jawed or flat-out petrified as a statue with indescribable, heart-wrenching terror as they slowly took stock of the massive creature.

It had horns.

It had teeth.

It had claws.

And oh Lord, it was _so_ very hairy.

"_SNORKLEPOGO_!" the brunette pointed and erupted with a shrill screech, and almost immediately the others joined in along her with an eardrum-shattering group shriek. Without further ado, the screaming ninnies all immediately scattered wildly like leaves in the wind in all directions, with every one fearing for her very life. In mere moments, every single terrified soul had vanished completely from sight, leaving nothing but a few faint wailing echoes.

An extraordinarily dumbstruck Frankie peered curiously about the now nearly vacant schoolyard. After a few moments of this, the puzzled little redhead silently turned her attention back to the colossal furry behemoth towering over her, who leaned in, gazed right into her eyes with his enormous jet-black pupils…and smiled meekly before greeting in a gruff whisper,

"Hola, senorita Frankie."

* * *

"Hey Ed!" Wilt chuckled as he opened the front door. "Everything go alright?" 

Eduardo seemed unusually somber as he wordlessly nodded softly. However, while he shuffled in like a guilty toddler that had been caught robbing the cookie jar, he contrasted immensely with his outrageously bouncy and chipper cargo. Still sitting almost squarely atop his head where she had ridden all the way home, Frankie beamed so brightly with untold glee she nearly lit up the entire room.

"_Wilt_!" she squealed happily. With this she immediately clambered down off the bullish imaginary friend and scuttled over to Wilt and wrapped her little arms around his ankle in a tight hug.

"Someone's in a good mood this afternoon!" he teased with a hearty smile as he ruffled her hair affectionately. "I-"

"You _coulda_ told me!" the little redhead suddenly backed away and began to protest indignantly. "You didn't say anything! Nothin' at all! You left me there, a-and you didn't say you wanted to…huh?"

Wilt immediately lifted a finger to pursed lips and flashed a crafty thumbs-up and a sly wink. Frankie quickly caught his drift and immediately clamped a hand over her mouth in an attempt to stifle a mad fit of the giggles as she nodded wordlessly.

"So…" the lanky imaginary friend continued. "I take it everything went okay?"

"Yup!" she snickered as she attempted to play along. "J-just fine, everything w-was-"

"_Terrible_!" Eduardo suddenly moaned as he covered his face in shame. "Oh, so terrible!"

"What?" Wilt gasped, pretending to look surprised by the abrupt confession and forcing Frankie to redouble her efforts to muffle her laughter. "What do you mean?"

"Yeah!" the little girl chimed in. "Whadya mean?"

The behemoth of an imaginary friend whimpered gruffly as he averted his gaze to the floor.

"Sorry! Wilt, I so sorry! You tell me to pick up Frankie and take her home, but…b-but…" he lamented sadly. "But her friends, they take one look at me, and-"

However, it was absolutely foolish to believe that a six-year-old could restrain such unbridled exhilaration for so long, and thus Wilt didn't do so much as bat an eyelid as she suddenly burst out squealing happily,

"Yeah, he was _GREAT_!"

Eduardo however only shook his head stubbornly as he continued to mercilessly berate himself for his "failure."

"No, no! They look at me, and-"

Before he could get one word further, the hulking beast was startled slightly when the child promptly scuttled over and attempted to hug his massive frame.

"You shoulda seen it!" she immediately began to jabber happily. "They were gone in like, five seconds! No, three seconds! Two seconds! Right after they saw him! Yeah! You shoulda seen it, they were all screaming and stuff, a-and some of them left their lunchboxes, and they were runnin' and runnin', and…and…"

As confused as he now felt about the whole matter, Eduardo couldn't help but let his cheeks come aglow with a spectacular crimson.

"R-really?" he asked incredulously. "But I-"

"Yeah-huh! He was awesome, Wilt!" she squeaked, causing the imaginary bull's blush to intensify.

"Oh, _no_." Eduardo murmured modesty as a wan smile began to sneak its way across his face. "No, not me, I made all your friends go-"

"Can he pick me up after school tomorrow?" Frankie trilled hopefully as she stroked his thick violet fur. "Can he? Can he Wilt? Pleaaaase? Oooh, can he drop me off tomorrow, too? Can he? Wilt, can he?"

"Not me, I _couldn't_." Ed continued on, feeling massively bewildered by the child's incessant genuine praise. "Your friends see me, a-and they…wait, why you want-"

"C'mon, of course you can, Ed!" Wilt laughed. "I'll take to Madame Foster about it, she won't mind! You can get to the school and back on your own, who says you can't do this again?"

"Not me!" Frankie announced in a goofy singsong manner. Eduardo smiled weakly and nearly went as red as a ripe tomato as the child eagerly tightened her squeeze upon him.

"I-if Frankie wants me to…" he began to sheepishly relent under their strong encouragement. "But,"

"Don't worry about it, you'll be fine! Besides," Wilt added as he flashed Frankie a sly wink. "You haven't been properly introduced to all her friends yet!"

"Yeah!" she giggled and nodded furiously. "Trust me, they'd _love_ to see you again…"

**The End**


End file.
